Bodhi Rook

In 25 BBY, Bodhi Rook was born on Jedha, where he was similarly raised. As a youth, he had two run-ins with the law. One was for unlawful wagering on sporting events and the other was unsafe operation of an airspeeder. He lived with his mother while growing up. Usually, she forbade him from using a knife in the kitchen, but in one instance, she made an exception, showing him how to cut a vegetable stalk. At some point, he developed a crush on someone when he was on Bamayar, but when he revealed his feelings for the individual, he was rejected.

He enlisted in the Galactic Empire and had aspirations to become an Imperial starfighter pilot. He entered Terrabe Sector Service Academy in 7 BBY and pursued flight training for two years, but due to insufficient test scores, Rook did not qualify for admission into the starfighter program. Two years later, Rook was granted the rank of ensign and eventually cleared to work in cargo shuttles for the transport of Imperial documents and artifacts.

At some point during his career, he had to fly away from a group of rebels shooting at his shuttle, even as the shuttle itself was already in flames.

Rook defected from the Empire after a conversation on Eadu with Galen Erso, an Imperial scientist who worked on the Death Star project. Erso told Rook that the Empire preferred good citizens who did their duty without asking questions. When Rook pushed back that Erso had wanted him to ask questions about the project he was working on in order to fix the scientists mistakes, Erso responded asking Rook if he could say he paid no part in the project knowing what became of his cargo. He told the pilot there was still time to make things right and that he could only move forward with what he had learned. Erso entrusted Rook with an important message that contained a recording with information about a flaw in the Death Star that he had helped build. Erso told him to seek out the resistance fighter Saw Gerrera. Upon his return to Jedha, the Empire placed a 75,000-credit reward for his capture.

Arriving on Jedha, Rook was captured by a band of Gerrera’s partisans, and, whilst they did not harm Rook en route to their destination, they treated him more like an object than a man. Rook continued to believe he had made the right decision to seek out Gerrera and hoped the Partisans would accept him as a good and brave man once he had delivered Galen’s message. He attempted to gain their trust before another group of Saw’s fighters, including Benthic and Moroff, arrived to collect the pilot. When Moroff took hold of him, Rook flinched in Imperial-taught nervousness at the non-human and immediately felt shame.

Though he initially believed Benthic to be Gerrera, Rook pleaded that he be taken to the Partisan leader before it was too late and began to feel frustrated at their silence. In response, a cloth sack was placed over his head, obscuring his vision and leaving him momentarily feeling hate for Galen Erso.

Rook was concerned that his captors were not the Rebels that Erso had described to him, instead, they acted more like the murderers, criminals, and terrorists that the Empire warned about. Although he found Gerrera, the rebel was initially distrustful of Rook's motives, believing the message was meant to lure him into a trap. Rook argued that he had not been brought to him under capture but that he had decided to seek Gerrera out himself as a defector, and tried to convince Gerrera that Galen Erso had sent him. In an attempt to discover if Rook was being truthful or not, Gerrera subjected him to a torturous experience involving a Mairan named Bor Gullet who could sense if he was telling the truth

Rook was secured in a chair when Bor Gullet was set upon him. Though he could not see the creature initially, he eventually felt its tentacles wrap around his body and the feeling of pinpricks of fire in his temple. As the creature began to infiltrate his mind, Rook thought of his mother teaching him how to use a knife to cut vegetables and immediately felt a pang of sadness. He thought of Misurno, his teacher and copilot on the Fentersohn run, who would regale Rook with stories of his Separatist years and who referred to Bodhi as his best friend. His mind also went to Galen Erso informing him there was nothing brave about blind obedience and to a burning cargo shuttle he was piloting being shot at by Rebels fighters. Eventually, Bor Gullet completed its task at the cost of a temporary loss of Rook's sanity

Rook was placed in a prison cell while Gerrera studied the evidence at hand. Eventually, the cell next to him was occupied by the rebel operative Cassian Andor, who managed to help him regain his composure, the blind warrior Chirrut Îmwe, and the assassin Baze Malbus, who wanted to kill him upon hearing of his Imperial past. In his reduced state, Rook was able to utter the words “planet killer” and tell Andor that Erso had sent him from Eadu. Before he could speak further, the cavern they were in shuddered and the Partisans hurriedly began to evacuate - unbeknownst to everyone, the Death Star had fired a single ignition reactor blast on Jedha City which would lead to its destruction. Îmwe and Malbus extracted the pilot and they made their way towards Andor’s U-wing ship piloted by the modified KX-series security droid K-2SO.

The three made their way to a mountain ledge overlooking a valley where they saw a shadow like a moon eclipsing the sun, and Rook immediately knew what it was. He began to panic and started to blame himself as they ran to the approaching U-wing, questioning the point of them running and believing they were about to die. As he clambered on the ship and into the cockpit, the effects of Bor Gullet remained and Rook imagined he was laughing aboard his Nu-class transport with his classmates cheering him on as he successfully navigated through the gas giant of Bamayar IX. When he returned to reality, he spotted a crack in the billowing dust and fell to the floor in joy as Andor piloted the ship through it and to the safety of hyperspace.

Aboard the U-wing, Rook met with Galen's daughter, Jyn Erso, who learned of the truth of Rook's defection after seeing her father's message. Rook told Jyn that her father had told him he could get right by himself and could make things right if he was brave enough and listened to what was in his heart. As they made their way to the stormy planet of Eadu, Andor and Jyn argued about the validity of the planet killer claims, and Rook admitted he had not seen the now destroyed message Galen had sent.

As the U-wing entered Eadu, Rook instructed Andor to fly as low as possible to avoid detection, though due to the stormy conditions and an overshot approach, the ship crash landed near the Eadu Flight Station. Rook accompanied Andor as the spy searched for a vantage point to view the landing pad Galen would be on - not knowing Andor had orders to assassinate him. Rook spoke to Andor about his time on Eadu, saying if he had not started a conversation with Galen in the meal line about which droid to get food from, he never would have wondered what the Empire was working on. Andor asked the pilot how long Gerrera had held him, to which Rook replied he had been there a few days - when Andor bluntly responded that it must have been a hell of a few days, Rook allowed himself to smile. Rook struggled to make the climb, but upon finding a suitable location, was able to identify Galen on the platform using quadnoculars. When Delta-class shuttle ST 149 descended towards the landing area, Andor sent Rook back to the team to find a ship that would allow them to escape.

When Rook reached the U-wing, it was on fire with only K-2SO standing by. The droid offered to carry Rook to where they would need to go, but the pilot refused. Instead, he told the droid that he had to follow his lead stating they both wore the Imperial emblem and had both been reprogrammed in some way. When K-2SO agreed, Rook led them to the shuttle port. Rook was able to commandeer Zeta-class shuttle SW-0608 and rescue Andor, Jyn, Malbus, and Îmwe following a Rebel Alliance aerial assault on the Eadu Energy Conversion Laboratory that claimed the life of Galen Erso.

The motley crew set course for the rebel base at Yavin 4. During the journey, Andor and Erso got into a heated argument over Andor’s intention to kill her father on Eadu, an accusation that left Rook feeling wounded given his thoughts for Galen but unsurprised nonetheless.

Upon arriving on Yavin 4, Rook spotted a Firefeather starcutter and assumed somebody wealthy was on board, and quickly felt overwhelmed by the bustling atmosphere as rebel aristocrats convened on the base. He took a moment to console Jyn on the death of her father but denied her words that he probably knew Galen better than she did. He also told her that he would remain in his Imperial flight suit as a reminder that he had volunteered to be there. Following this, Rook was taken away and interviewed by Alliance Intelligence about Galen Erso and the construction he had witnessed.

During the Alliance High Command meeting regarding the Death Star, Rook’s authenticity was questioned by Senator Nower Jebel, who was sceptical about acting on the words of an Imperial pilot, scientist, and criminal. Following the meeting, in which the decision was made not to pursue capturing the Death Star plans, Rook followed Jyn into the nearby hangar bay where he, along with Malbus and Îmwe, declared his intention to fight. They were then joined by more than a dozen rebel soldiers, including Ruescott Melshi and Andor, who also pledged themselves to the unsanctioned mission to steal the Death Star plans from the Imperial Center of Military Research on the planet Scarif. Rook told the assembled crew that the journey would be cramped and uncomfortable, but that they would all fit and they could go.

The rebels used SW-0608 as their transport and Rook and K-2SO served as the team's pilots. Before they could take off, Alliance air traffic control denied their exit due to not having a request for the ship to leave the planet. Rook knew the plan was not good and reckoned if he survived the mission, he would be viewed as an Imperial traitor and a rebel mutineer and would be lucky to see the inside of a Yavin prison cell. He thought about all the bad bets he had made, when he had wagered everything on a long shot to win back what he had lost, only to end up with nothing. At that moment, he realised that he did not feel uncertain like he would have previously, instead, he was almost calm. When air traffic control requested their call sign, Rook hurriedly replied, "Rogue One," but was told there was no such unit. K-2S0 then responded that there was one now and took the ship into space.

For around half of the journey to Scarif, Corporal Stordan Tonc sceptically questioned Rook about his suitability for the operation, including his competency with a blaster and whether the pilot had seen combat before, but he declared he would watch Rook’s back throughout the mission.

After arriving above Scarif, Rook, now harbouring newfound confidence, explained to the team that a planetwide defensive shield with a single main entry gate surrounded the planet, but the ship should be equipped with an access code to allow them through. He conceded that the Empire may have logged the ship as stolen which would result in them shutting the gate and annihilating the shuttle in the cold, dark vacuum of space. Rook noticed the two Imperial Star Destroyers defending the planet and believed it to be a good sign, saying that another solitary ship in the mix would not be noticeable.

Rook notified gate control and requested a landing pad. Since their arrival was not scheduled, Rook told the gate officer that they had been rerouted from Eadu Flight Station and ordered K-2SO to transmit the clearance codes. After the Imperials accepted their clearance code, the rebels landed their shuttle at the Imperial security complex's Landing Platform Nine. Before landing, Rook pointed out the Citadel Tower and stated the Death Star plans were likely housed there. He also told the crew that the communication tower at the top handled all transmissions in and out of the base to penetrate the defensive shield. Rook told Andor that he had made twenty cargo runs in and out of Scarif and had never been let off of a landing pad, so he could not confirm the levels of security on the planet's surface.

Each member of Rogue One was given a task, and Rook’s was to keep the engine running as he was the team's only avenue of escape. Whilst alone in the cockpit with K-2SO, Rook repeated to himself that he was the pilot. When the droid asked if he was having trouble remembering who he was, Rook told him that it was easy to pretend to be brave when the danger was far away, but it was different when you were in the danger zone with people counting on you. K-2SO told the pilot he would be as brave as he needed to be if his reprogramming had been completed correctly.

When the ship had landed, an Imperial inspection crew consisting of an officer, technician, and two stormtroopers boarded the cargo shuttle, Rook and K-2SO greeted them. They led them down into the cargo bay where they were taken out by the other rebels.

As the fighting began, Rook thought he should have felt guilt over his actions. Though he never saw himself as a soldier or a killer, he had picked a side following Galen’s conversation with him about the Death Star. Rook was able to patch into the base’s main security channel and provided support by confusing Imperial officers with false reports on rebel movements throughout the base, delaying or redirecting Imperial reinforcements.

After learning that the Rebel Alliance had arrived on Scarif whilst in the bases’ data vault, Andor instructed Rook to get a message out to the Rebel ships in orbit and tell them they needed to blow a hole in the shield gate for them to transmit the plans. After Rook protested that he was not patched into the comm tower, Andor demanded he find a way.

Rook knew that the Alliance arriving over Scarif would ensure the Empire closed the shield gate thus trapping them on the planet. He began to worry that he had not been thorough enough with his planning or explanations before the mission, and he found these thoughts to be a welcome distraction from what was required of him to complete his new task. He explained to Tonc and the assembled soldiers what needed to be done and why he needed to be the one to patch into the comm tower due to his Imperial experience, and gathered the required equipment. He instructed Tonc to contact the ground soldiers and inform them to locate and activate a master switch. As he prepared himself to make the ten-meter journey to the network console, Rook feared he would be cut down by crossfire or crushed by a falling starfighter. He compared his task to a race and recalled how he enjoyed betting on races, but before he could make his move, Tonc requested information on the master switch for Melshi. Feeling his determination wane, Rook returned to the comlink to instruct Melshi.

Tonc and the remaining troops dispersed around the landing pad to provide Rook with cover in the event of stormtroopers finding their position. He began to daydream of a scenario where he had scored much higher at the Imperial Academy and where he was the one shooting at invading X-wings. Telling himself once more that he was not a soldier, and, with a dry mouth and pounding heart, Rook ran to the console. The heat hit him like a wall but he continued running and was able to quickly connect the comms cable to the console and waited for the console to register the connection. Once it was successfully connected, Rook ran back to the ship but was jerked back after the cable spool became snagged on a cargo crate. Upon returning to prize the cable loose, he was accosted by a group of stormtroopers enquiring as to his actions. Before he could answer, the rebels blasted the troopers leading to a skirmish between further troopers and the rebels which would claim the life of Tonc.

As Rook knelt between cargo crates determining his next move, Andor contacted him. The pilot told the spy that he was pinned down and could not plug in, but Andor implored him that he must. He told Rook that they may not return for extraction so they had to try and transmit the schematics from the comm tower. Rook confirmed that was the only possible way to transmit such a large file to the fleet, and Andor again tasked him with getting a message to the rebel fleet that the shield gate needed to be disabled. Before he could talk himself out of the mission, Rook ran as fast as he could to the ship and narrowly avoided multiple blaster bolts. He connected the cable and the connection was registered, though the master switch would still need to be activated. Rook allowed himself to envisage that Malbus and Imwe would activate the master switch, Andor and Erso would transmit the plans, and he would swoop in and pilot them all to safety - but he was all too aware that the landing pad was nearly overrun by Imperials. He contacted Melshi and informed him that Andor and Erso had the plans and that the master switch needed to be activated to allow him to contact the rebel fleet.

As stormtroopers began closing on the shuttle, Rook felt anguish that he had failed his crew for not figuring out a better plan, but his thoughts were quickly banished as the ship console confirmed a connection between it and the comms tower. He immediately attempted to contact the rebel fleet but was initially unsuccessful. Eventually, Admiral Raddus, commander of the Profundity, returned Rook’s contact and confirmed he could hear him. Rook hastily informed Raddus that they had the Death Star plans and that rebel ships would need to be in position for them to receive the transmission. The pilot also told Raddus that they would need to take out the shield gate for the data to get through. Raddus informed Rook that they would carry out his instructions and ended the communication. Rook knew he had said what he needed to say.

Rook thought again of his plan to fly in and save his comrades, but he also thought of the strain he heard in Andor’s voice and of his last, unanswered signal to Melshi. He knew that if he did not get the chance to fly in and save everyone, that he had done enough. Knowing the Alliance fleet had received his message, he dedicated his actions to Galen Erso. After the broadcast, he heard the sound of metal clattering across the deck of the ship. He turned in time to see a C-25 fragmentation grenade thrown by a shoretrooper but heard nothing as the cabin flared impossibly bright, killing him instantly in the ensuing explosion.

Thanks in part to Bodhi's efforts and sacrifice, Jyn was able to use the Imperial security complex's satellite to transmit the Death Star plans offworld. Despite Grand Moff Tarkin's efforts to destroy the Scarif base, the rebels managed to transmit the plans to the rebel flagship Profundity. Princess Leia Organa then fled with the plans aboard the rebel corvette Tantive IV, setting the stage for the events leading up to the Battle of Yavin.

Bodhi Rook was a human male with brown eyes, black hair and tan skin. He was a very experienced pilot, but had a tendency to be tense and anxious, but proved himself to be courageous and resourceful following his defection to the Rebellion and actions on Scarif. During his time in the Empire, he was trained to fly all kinds of Imperial cargo vessels. These included Lambda and Zeta-class shuttles. Bodhi took up gambling with fellow Imperial pilots to make ends meet and distract him from the evils of the Empire. He bet on Odupiendo races which resulted in him losing credits by the thousand, though he did win almost as much back, and allowed him to acquire a keen observational eye for speed and tactics. He also stole Weeteef Cyu-Bee's candy.

Bodhi Rook is portrayed by Riz Ahmed in the Star Wars Anthology Series film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Ahmed's casting in the film was first announced on August 15, 2015. At that time, the first photo of the character was released as well. His first name "Bodhi" is Sanskrit and Pāli for "enlightenment" or "awaking". In Buddhism, Bodhi is the final enlightenment that ends transmigration and leads to Nirvana.

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